Review Blog

May 27 2014

Dummie the Mummy and the Golden Scarab by Tosca Menten

Penguin, 2014. ISBN 9780143308287.
This may well be the Dutch answer to Roald Dahl! Tosca Menten has so
far produced five books about Dummie the Mummy and they have gained
a huge following in her homeland. They are now being published in
several other countries and a movie version is in the early stages
of production.
The silly ridiculousness of the whole premise and plot combined with
some strange (and Dahl-esque) characters will have children from 8
years up in fits of laughter.
Darwishi Ur-atum Msamaki Minkabh Ishaq Eboni or DUMMIE for short,
was the small son of an ancient Egyptian Pharoah thousands of years
ago. After his brief illness and death, he was mummified as was the
custom and his royal father insisted on placing the sacred scarab of
royalty with the boy. The grieving parents sent their son into the
afterlife with special spells and powerful charms.
Cut to a small town in modern day Holland and a truck transporting
three mummies to a museum for a special exhibit. A sudden storm
erupts and the truck is struck by lightning, the driver luckily
escaping unharmed, but the mummies destroyed. Or are they? The
unfortunate driver thinks he saw a small childsized mummy climbing
out of the roadside ditch and running off.
Angus is an ordinary boy living with a rather unusual artist father,
on their own since Gus' mum died but happy with their lives. Until,
that is, Angus discovers a 'living' mummy in his bedroom and the
mayhem begins!
Aside from the hilarity of the antics, this is a great book for
exploring accepting differences, not judging on face value and
friendship with some very funny adventures thrown in.
Very suitable for less able readers who could use something engaging
and humorous to keep them wanting more and also very well suited to
read-aloud episodes.
Read more about Dummie the Mummy and Tosca Menten here.
Tosca's trailer for this book is here.
Sue Warren